China launches the 11th Kinetica 1 carrier rocket, sending 9 satellites into orbit

The 11th Kinetica 1 carrier rocket lifted off early on Wednesday afternoon, deploying nine satellites, including three for the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Nepal. The launch, operated by CAS Space, a leading commercial rocket maker, took place at 12:03 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert.

The payloads — six Chinese multifunctional satellites, an Earth-observation satellite to be operated by the UAE, an Egyptian scientific satellite and a Nepalese educational satellite — subsequently entered their preset orbit, the company said in a statement.

The UAE's satellite, named 813, was developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for the National Space Science and Technology Center at the United Arab Emirates University.